Celebrate Soy Foods Month with Key Lime Pie

Increasing the value of U.S. soy meal
and oil, maintaining farmers' freedom to operate, as well as meeting customers’
needs for high-quality soy products are strategic objectives of the United
Soybean Board (USB). They’ve also been a personal mission for North
Dakota farmer Vanessa Kummer, who has served on the USB board for the past
decade.

“I really hope my involvement opens the
door for more women and helps empower them to believe they deserve to have a
seat at the table,” says Kummer, who was the first woman to be elected as USB
chairperson and the first North Dakotan elected to this position.

Thirty percent of U.S. farms are
operated by women, and an even higher percentage of farming operations involve
women along with other family members. Women’s roles in farming are
changing as more females are earning business degrees and even MBAs before
returning to their family farms. That’s why Kummer believes it’s
important for women to be active in the industry and represented in leadership
positions.

When asked how more women can become
involved in agricultural organizations, Kummer said, “Show up to meetings
regularly, ask questions and participate.” As one of three female
panelists at theExecutive Women in Agricultureevent
last December in Chicago, she said the amount of misinformation being spread
about farming is a real concern. She also said that more and more
consumers are being misled by media.

Consumer outreach was one of Kummer's main focuses while serving as USB chair. She worked with leadership within the National
Corn Growers Association to launch the CommonGroundTM
program aimed at addressing consumers’ food concerns by sharing facts about
farming and dispelling food myths. CommonGround focuses on
women-to-women communications to bridge the gap between rural and urban
areas. It involves a group of volunteer farmer participants, representing
all sectors of agriculture.